# Your favorite books of childhood **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 4, 1999, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861 "1999-11-04T19:08:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 1999, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/1 "1999-11-05T06:20:00Z")
Inspired by [WWW.scholastic.com/parents.younger.html](http://WWW.scholastic.com/parents.younger.html) and their list of their own books for the Booklist of the Millennium, I was wondering what are some of everyone’s favorite books from their childhood ( preschool - 13 years) I am also looking for some inspiration for buying books for my ever growing library of childrens literature, so there is a selfish side to starting this thread. (But it’s a good kind of selfishness 🙂 ) Some of mine ( but not all) Cat in the Hat Go Dog Go (Dr. Suess) Charlotte’s Web - EB White) Little House on the Prairie books (LI Wilder.) Never Miss a Sunset ( Jean Something or another) The Dog who came ( or who stayed) for Christmas - ? Flat Stanley The Littles - Series books The Velveteen Rabbitt I’ll add more later. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 1999, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/2 "1999-11-05T06:26:00Z")
Gosh, I read non-stop when I was a kid…it’ll be hard to remember all the good books…let’s see: Little House on the Prairie series Cricket in Times Square Charlotte’s Web Chronicles of Narnia Watership Down (you said up to age 13) Green Eggs and Ham That’s allI can really remember off the top of my head. A lot of the books I read are still in print. Now I have to go to the bookstore so I can take a trip down memory lane! * * * “Love given when it is inconvenient is the greatest love of all. Kindnesses that are shared at a high cost to oneself are the most dear.” Don’t know who said it, but I like it. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 1999, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/3 "1999-11-05T06:34:00Z")
Lets see. Oodles of Noodles. Billy and the Number Line(war between the evens and odds). Most books I didn’t remember the title. Also The Thing at the Foot of the Bed. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 1999, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/4 "1999-11-05T06:37:00Z")
The Enormous Egg Runaway Ralph and other Bev. Cleary Narnia Chronicles Lassie Come Home Tunnel through Time (Lester del Rey SF) Tons more, but I’ll stop for now. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 1999, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/5 "1999-11-05T06:42:00Z")
The Little House and Black Stallion series. Choose Your Own Adventure books, or anything even remotely similar, like the Lone Wolf series. _Bridge to Terabithia_ (waaaaaah!) _Island of the Blue Dolphins_ All of the Ramona Quimby books _Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret_ _Superfudge_ I KNOW there are more, and I’ll post again when I can think of them. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 1999, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/6 "1999-11-05T06:44:00Z")
THE THING AT THE FOOT OF THE BED by Maria Leach was a WONDERFUL book of scary folktales and urban legends! Good luck finding a copy…been OP for years. Another book well worth searching for by folklorist Leach is THE RAINBOW BOOK OF AMERICAN FOLKTALES AND LEGENDS. My childhood faves are fairly common choices, PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH, WIND IN THE WILLOWS (also try Graham’s THE GOLDEN AGE), anything by Roald Dahl. Preschool…this is also out-of-print (the vagaries of (hildren’s book publishing make it difficult to keep anything but best-sellers in print), but I taught myself to read at the age of three with I CAN’T, SAID THE ANT. Picture-book about a defeatist ant who is urged on to great things by an anthropomorphic kitchen. (“It doesn’t matter,” said the platter…“Be of good cheer,” said the root beer.) THE OXFORD BOOK OF AMERICAN CHILDREN’S POETRY should be owned by every household. Have you ever heard of the Moomin books by Tove Jansson? Great Finnish fantasy. * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 1999, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/7 "1999-11-05T06:50:00Z")
I had three books that I really liked (not including the standard “Dr Seuss” fare): “Bring 'em Back Alive” by Frank Buck He was a real-life Indiana Jones type who went around capturing critters for zoos. (I think he embellished a lot.) “All About Strange Beasts of the Past” by Roy Chapman Andrews Part of this book is about fossils and extinct critters, and Andrews’ adventures in the Gobi Desert. Years later, I found out _why_ (according to Steven Jay Gould, IIRC) that he was in the Gobi looking for evidence of “early man,” since the scientific types had a hard time accepting an African origin. “The Sinking of the Bismarck” by William L. Shirer. This was the surreal story of the WW II fates of the Hood and the Bismarck, and the mind-boggling loss of life. (Hood, 1400 men, 3 (THREE!) survivors. Bismarck, 3000 men, a little over 100 survivors.) ---
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 1999, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/8 "1999-11-04T19:08:00Z")
Corduroy and Danny, Champion of the World are two of my faves as well as everything by Shel Silverstein. BTW Shirley, I love The Velveteen Rabbit too. ---
**Author:** ![Globe-trotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cab0a1/32.png) [@Globe-trotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Globe-trotter)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 1999, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/9 "1999-11-04T19:20:00Z")
I remember a book called “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” which I simply loved. I can’t remember the author, though! Also : Anne of Green Gables series (8 of 'em!) - L.M. Montgomery Little House on the Praire Dr. Seuss Charlotte’s Web Little Women Pollyanna (although she got on my nerves after a while LOL) Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (which resembled Pollyanna somewhat) Harriet the Spy Judy Blume novels There are many more but I can’t for the life of me remember them right now. * * * Sex appeal – Give generously ---
**Author:** ![WIGGUM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WIGGUM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WIGGUM)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 1999, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/10 "1999-11-04T19:31:00Z")
Four words…A Winkle in Time Sorry, I don’t know how to underline in my posts. ---
**Author:** ![Dirty\_Devil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Dirty\_Devil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dirty_Devil)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 1999, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/11 "1999-11-04T19:32:00Z")
Does anyone remember the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle series? They were short, funny stories that had a little bit of magic thrown in. My mom used to read them to me and my sister just before bed. Man, I lived for thoses stories. What’s really great now is reading all those old books from my childhood to my own kids. We have lots of current stuff on the bookshelves, but they like the old junk better, like I Am A Bunny, Goodnight Moon, and most of the Dr. Suess books. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 1999, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/12 "1999-11-04T19:32:00Z")
La famille Robinson suisse(Johann Wyss) Les Trois Mousquetaires, Vingt Ans Apres, Le Vicomte de Bragelonne (Alexandre Dumas) The Famous Five series (Enid Blyton) Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) Call of the Wild (Jack London) The Adventures of Robin Hood (compilation of different texts) The adventures of Tintin and Milou (Herge) Asterix and Obelix (Goscinny / Uderzo) Nancy Drew (Carolyn Keene) Hardy Boys (Franklin W. Dixon) I have to admit that the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries didn’t hold up their initial fascination for me when I re-read some as an adult. * * * J’ai assez vécu pour voir que différence engendre haine. Stendhal ---
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 1999, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/13 "1999-11-04T19:35:00Z")
Stuart Little & Charlotte’s Web, of course. The first fifteen OZ books. Mom and Dad would read from them each night to my brother and me, and then when we were old enough we read them ourselves innumerable times. The fun part was that the earliest ones were the ones Mom had read in the 20s (too bad she and her sisters crayoned in the illos). Winnie the Pooh, The House at Pooh Corners. The Laura Ingels Wilder books. The Seven Wonders of the World, by Richard Halliburton. Really opened my young mind to history, archeology, and the diversity of cultures. Horton Hears a Who. The Babar series. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisCTP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@ChrisCTP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisCTP)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 1999, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/14 "1999-11-04T19:38:00Z")
Oh, man… -Charlotte’s Web -Charlie and the Chocolate Factory -The Ramona books -The Ralph S. Mouse books -Little House on the Prairie set -Little Women -Stuart Little -The Boxcar Children -any of those mystery books that had the reader decide what happens next -Encyclopedia Brown -Judy Blume stuff -Sweet Valley High (geez, Louise…) -And, though I didn’t really understand much of it at the time, I tore through my mom’s cheezy Harlequin romances and my grandma’s Ellery Queen magazines when I ran out of my own stuff to read. * * * “Excrement. That is what I think of J. Evans Pritchard, PhD.” --Robin Williams, Dead Poets Society Chris’ Homepage: [Domestic Bliss](http://www2.crosswinds.net/~domesticbliss/) ---
**Author:** ![ChrisCTP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@ChrisCTP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisCTP)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 1999, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/15 "1999-11-04T19:41:00Z")
This is what I get for posting before I read all the responses. A lot of the ones that others have mentioned should have been included in my list as well. What a fabulous thread! I’m going to be in a great mood all day now. * * * “Excrement. That is what I think of J. Evans Pritchard, PhD.” --Robin Williams, Dead Poets Society Chris’ Homepage: [Domestic Bliss](http://www2.crosswinds.net/~domesticbliss/) ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 1999, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/16 "1999-11-04T19:44:00Z")
I re-read “Wind in the Willows” quite a bit; I also got a copy of the sequel, “The Willows in Winter.” There’s entirely too many Toads in adult life, ya know. your humble TubaDiva Of course, sometimes they’re funny. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 1999, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/17 "1999-11-04T19:46:00Z")
How in hell did I forget the Anne of Green Gables series? And Encyclopedia Brown, for that matter. I still use a saying I ripped off from an Encyclopedia Brown mystery: I trust him about as far as I can throw a cheesecake under water. There’s a book called _Wishbringer_ that I loved as a kid. Can’t remember who wrote it. It was sort of a comic fantasy story, based on a guy who was forced to be a postman in a town that turned “evil” after six in the evening. There was an Infocom text adventure game with the same plot, but I don’t know which came first. I loved the game and the book, though. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 1999, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/18 "1999-11-04T19:49:00Z")
“A Little Princess” - hands down, far and away, no question my #1 book of childhood, which I still take out and read every 10 years or so. It was made into two completely sucky movies, although the second was slightly better than the perfectly awful Shirley Temple mostrosity. A gorgeous, gorgeous tale… I can’t remember the author, though it si the same on who wrote “The Secret Garden”, which was made into a lovely movie a few years ago. I’ll love that book when I’m an old woman… * * * * * * This is a non-smoking area. If we see you smoking, we will assume you are on fire and act accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 1999, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/19 "1999-11-04T19:58:00Z")
Two come to mind, From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsberg, and also James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl…come to think of it, I LOVED just about all the Roald Dahl stuff. What was that guy on, anyway? Mouthbreather \ ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 1999, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861/20 "1999-11-04T20:02:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I LOVED just about all the Roald Dahl stuff. What was that guy on, anyway? Ditto! Did anyone read the one about the guy who studied for years to train his psychic energy so he could sense what playing card would come next from the deck? I can’t remember what that one was called, but it was at once uplifting, funny, and crushingly sad, which is the best anyone can ask for from a book–or anything else, for that matter. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-books-of-childhood/10861.md?page=2)